A Short Reprieve
by savingxgrace
Summary: After an emotionally exhausting day, Mac gives Stella a reason to smile again. Smacked OneShot.


This one is for JenJen, my best friend. The prompts were given by her as well. Prompts: Smacked, Strawberries, Back of the locker room door, Glow in the dark condoms. (which could have gone horribly wrong but I managed to control myself grin)

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**A Short Reprieve**

"Glow in the dark condoms?" Stella asked, her voice slightly above the normal range as she turned to face Mac in the bedroom they currently occupied. All alone. With the lights off.

"Yeah, looks like this guy enjoyed a little night time fantasy fulfilling." He replied, not even looking at her as he searched through the starch white bed sheets with the blue light. Stella had to swallow the lump that formed in her throat.

"Yeah," She laughed and quickly let go of the packet into an evidence bag, making sure to tighten her gloves as she put the bag away. The room wasn't exactly sterilised to her liking and she didn't want a repeat performance of... well, of previous performances.

It took about an hour or two before they had combed through everything searching for any type of evidence that could help with the case.

As they were leaving, she couldn't help but gaze upon the small splattering of blood on the floor by the door where the young girl that had been found just this morning. Prime suspect: the father.

She took a deep breath and with the soft guiding hand of Mac's on her lower back, managed to escape the room.

It was sick. It was all just sick. A father raping his own daughter and then killing her as she tried to make an escape, she couldn't even imagine anything like that happening. Especially if it was her daughter that it was being done to, not at all like this girl's mother who just steadfastly refused to accept any wrong doing by her husband.

"We'll get him, Stell, it'll be alright." Mac told her in her ear as he opened the car door for her. It was as if he was reading her mind and lucky as she hadn't even noticed they had left the building until he had spoken up.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Mac." He shut the door behind her and then went around getting into the driver's seat. They had arrived together, both receiving the call while at the lab and it made sense to go together. Now she was thankful she had. Driving right now made her feel a little uneasy.

"Stell?" Mac asked, seeing her biting her lower lip. He had just stopped at the first set of lights and was starting to feel a little strange as it was Stella who usually started the conversation. But this time, she wasn't even saying a word.

"Mmm?" She turned to look at him, her large green eyes sparkling with sadness she was trying so hard to hide.

Mac paused then decided against whatever he was going to say. "Nothing." He said with a small smile. He drove on, arriving in no time back at the lab.

--

Stella hadn't seen Mac since they had parted at the elevator that had taken them to their floor. He had gone back to his office and she to the layout room straight away. This case was really eating her inside and she had an idea of why.

This daughter had a father, a mother and everything a young teenager could want. Everything she didn't have. This girl had trusted her father and he had taken advantage of it. Just because he could. It made her so sad and furious at the same time.

She was still the same way as she made her way to the locker room later at the end of her shift. She didn't even take notice of her surroundings as she changed to go home for the evening. It wasn't until she reached the locker room door to leave that she noticed something different.

There was no one there. And there was a note on the back of the locker room door. On the front it read "Stella" in very familiar handwriting and she smiled for the first time that day as she peeled it off from the surface it was stuck to. She turned it over and there was a simple "Meet me in my office"

She didn't have to question who it was. The writing was distinctly Mac's and she would have no doubt it was him even if she didn't know his handwriting.

The soft click of her heels was the only evidence the building wasn't deserted as she walked down the hall towards the glass office mentioned in the note, which was clutched in her hands.

It was a sight to behold as she reached the end of the hall. It almost made her stop dead in her tracks. Surely the glass walls made it hard for the surprise to be kept until Mac saw her but it was still wonderful all the same as she knocked on his door. It was more out of politeness than necessity but she did it all the same.

He looked up from his position on his floor at the sound and smiled when he saw her with a stunned look on her face. He motioned for her to come in and she obeyed.

"Mac..." She breathed, too astounded to say much else at this point.

She took a few steps towards the spread that was before her. The traditional picnic blanket was spread out across Mac's usually crowded floor but all the furnishings had already been pushed to one side. She briefly thought how he couldn't have done all that by himself when he caught her attention again.

"Thought you should have some down time, I know what a hard day it was for you today," He said and Stella really appreciated the effort he was taking to make her comfortable. There were all her favourite foods like stuffed green olives, cold chicken and strawberries with chocolate. There was even a cup of coffee from across the street. Mac knew her too well.

"Thank you, Mac," She said, very serious and the gratitude thick in her voice. "For everything."

At first he didn't reply, instead choosing to take a sip of his own coffee. Perhaps he was getting some part of Stella's emotions in himself and she smiled at the thought.

"Stella," He started, not looking at her as he put his cup down. Stella noticed how he never really looked at her when he was revealing his true feelings. But it was something she loved about him, just one more quirk to add to the ever expanding list that defined who he was. "I would do anything to make you happy, you know that." She nodded at that, though she doubted he could see it.

He looked up at her and the intensity in which he locked eyes with her took her aback.

"Whether it's clearing out my office so we can have an impromptu picnic or something much, much more." Stella was stunned into silence. She was afraid she might give in to the temptation to kiss him, so she looked at the floor and cleared her throat to speak. However, when she looked up he was still giving her that strong gaze. It felt like he was looking into her soul.

"Thank you, Mac," She said for the second time that evening. But that was all she needed to say. The rare smile that graced his lips at her words was more than enough to show her that he knew what she meant.

"Do you want a strawberry?" He asked, picking up one of the largest and reddest of the fruit covered in chocolate and holding it out for her.

"Yes, I do."

--

**The End**


End file.
